As the operating systems, applications, and hardware components of modern computer systems become increasingly complicated and offer more features and functions, even an experienced user would from time to time encounter questions relating to various aspects of her computer system. Such questions may include, for example, how to use a particular feature of an application or a hardware device, how to modify various settings of the system, how to find out what is wrong when the computer is not performing as expected and how to fix it, etc. In the early days of the personal computing era, each piece of computer software and hardware by reputable vendors typically came with one or more user's manuals, most of them tended to be either too voluminous and difficult for average users to use, or not comprehensive enough to provide answers to many questions a user might have. Moreover, many of them were not well organized to allow a user to find the right information easily. It was all too often that a user would dig through several volumes of manuals, and still could not find the information needed.
As more computer processing power and system memory became available, there was a significant improvement in the way computer help information was provided to the users. Specifically, help information regarding a software program or a hardware device may be organized by the vendor of that product into different help topics that a user can access and view on the computer. For instance, if the user has question about a function or feature of an application, she can click on the help option on the menu bar and then try to find the help topic that provides the information. In addition to selected help topics, an application or device may provide tours and/or tutorials to teach the user how to use the features and functions of the product. As the Internet has become popular and widely accessible, many software and hardware vendors have also set up online support centers on the World Wide Web, where a user can search for technical information and obtain online technical support for diagnosis and troubleshooting. These newer approaches of providing help information have become so popular that many software and hardware products nowadays do not even come with old-fashioned paper manuals.
Nevertheless, even with all the help topics and online support available, a user today may still find it a frustrating experience trying to locate the right help topics for her questions or problems concerning her computer system. Often, a question may be of a relatively general nature and could involve several software and hardware components, and the user has no idea which component is responsible for the problem. In order to find the answer, the user may have to go through the help contents of each of the components. Thus, with respect to the applications, the user has to launch each of the applications and search through the help topics it provides. Similarly, for a hardware component, the user has to locate and launch the help program for that component and then go through its help topics. If the answer still cannot be found, the user may have to access the various vendor Web sites and go through the information provided there. In doing so, the user often finds that the applications, hardware devices, and vendor Web sites each has its own way of organizing help contents and its own terminology, making it more difficult to navigate through the help contents to find the information needed. This process not only can be very time consuming but also can cause significant frustration of the user. The unsatisfactory user experience in finding useful help topics also leads to higher costs of technical support services of the software and hardware vendors, as a user encountering a problem may be more inclined to call for help rather than trying to find the answer by herself.